From
Rail Technology MagazineWhere are significant rail investments in the South West being spent?
Ahead of further debate on rail investment in Dorset, the Rail Peninsula Task Force has highlighted some of the significant rail investments to have been made into the South West region.
In a report prepared ahead of those debates by Devon County Council, more than £300m investment has been spent on improving the railway network in the region since the submission of a regional transport plan to the Department for Transport in 2016.
This includes:
* Over £50m investment in improving resilience of the line north of Cowley and in Somerset Levels
* Over £120m and a further £30m committed to deliver a new sea wall and promenade in Dawlish, including cliff stabilisation and rock fall shelters at tunnel portals between Dawlish and Teignmouth.
* Over £40m to reopen the Dartmoor Line between Exeter, Crediton and Okehampton
* Over £50m investment in creating 21st century maintenance depot facilities at Exeter St David’s and Long Rock (Penzance), capable of servicing longer trains
* £30m Cornwall mainline re-signalling to increase capacity for better local services
* £14m refurbishment of the Sleeper Service
* New Inter-City Express Trains delivered with significantly increased seating capacity for passengers on an hourly speeded up timetable, and Improved rail services offering better connectivity, including:
- 2-hourly semi-fast trains between Paddington and Exeter
- 2 trains per hour even headway Plymouth-Penzance
- Extra XCT services between Bristol and Exeter
- Half hourly service Exmouth – Paignton
* New Stations Fund monies secured for Marsh Barton Station (Exeter) and Edginswell Station (Torbay)
Since 2020, the Peninsula Rail Task Force has been the strategic rail sub group of Peninsula Transport, the shadow sub-national transport body representing Cornwall, Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay.
The report itself, however, goes on to call for greater investment:
However, council is greatly concerned, that there is still an estimated huge gap in regional railway service investment of 4.5 billion for the South West Region, based on its ONS» projected population over the period to 2045.
Therefore in order to continue to build upon the restoring your railway programme, increase the far South West’s general connectivity, secure our railway resilience, and crucially assist with the climate emergency, council commits its active support, working with others to lobby, help facilitate, and advocate for the following projects:
The completion of the Great Western electrification programme.
The development of the North of Dartmoor line, connecting Plymouth, via Okehampton and Tavistock.
Additional passing loops, and an increase in line speeds, between Exeter and Salisbury to improve journey times between Exeter and Waterloo Station.
Encouraging and working with the logistics sector to commit to a serious switch to rail freight for the distribution of consumer goods, food, and industrial products.
report at
https://democracy.devon.gov.uk/documents/s39230/Notice%20of%20Motion%20Briefing%20Papers%20CSO2201.pdfmirrored (for archive in years to come) at
http://www.passenger.chat/devon_rail_report_20220112.pdf
